Rebel man
John Thornett (49)
It’s the cost of cutting the side, why on earth should they be forced to the Tahs?
Australian Rugby / RA
- Thread starter Dave Beat
- Start date
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
No one is being forced to do anything. They are being offered the opportunity to continue their professional rugby playing careers at one of the 4 other franchises. The Waratahs are getting the most attention as they need players the most.
Steve_Grey
Darby Loudon (17)
Club Rugby in NSW for certain positions is higher than Waratahs Super Rugby - NSW Waratahs Back Row is desperate for a proper #7 - but they stick with the substandard incumbent.
Rebel man
John Thornett (49)
RA is trying to push players to the Tahs that don’t want to be there. You could see that playing out when they gutted the list there to make way for them. It will be an unmitigated disaster when these boys all run out in the hospitals cup and the Tahs can’t get a win. But yet again RA is to blame
Mick The Munch
Vay Wilson (31)
Taking the shrink to greatness to a whole new level
Bullrush
Geoff Shaw (53)
For most of those players,I would give them an option to take a voluntary redundancy package if the refuse to go to Sydney. Again, for most of these guys, I think that would be around 8 - 10 weeks of wages.
If they refuse that option and they want to play club rugby with full pay/entitlements, I would honor it and make sure they know it's the last rugby contract they will ever get in Australia. Most of these payers are not big enough names in the game that a year off playing and a perception that they are a difficult employee won't hurt their market value when their contract ends.
And for some of these guys, that might suit them perfectly because it seems they don't really want to be rugby players anyway.
Dan54
David Wilson (68)
Unfortunately, I think the shrink to greatness is just a online thing isn't it, I get more idea it shrink to survive?
John S
Chilla Wilson (44)
Huh? I don't recall the Tahs "gutting" their list. You think they pushed the likes of Holloway, Swinton, Hanigan out when they've been our best players this year?
KOB1987
John Eales (66)
I think you are reading what suits you into the player departures. They wouldn't have let players go without first discussing the intent of the potential replacements from the Rebels if that was why they were letting them go. Hanigan has gone to top up his super, I suspect Swinton & Harrison both left because they were told they were not in Wallabies contention. Holloway hasn't technically left yet, and Perese may well have stayed if he knew Mackellar's fate.
Tomthumb
Chilla Wilson (44)
They cant be forced anywhere, that's the point of the whole issue.
They have two options, take the money and add something to Australian rugby, or take the money and add nothing
I can't help but think a number of the departing Waratahs players would have been made (better) offers to stay if RA wasn't in a position where they knew they most likely had a bunch of Rebels players they had to pay for 2025 and beyond that would need a team.
So now the Tahs are pretty stuffed because they've lost a lot of key players and potentially aren't getting them replaced with decent players from the Rebels.
The backlash against the Tahs seems strongly entrenched in some sort of belief that the Waratahs moving under RA's control has somehow led to the decision to let the Rebels fold.
So now the Tahs are pretty stuffed because they've lost a lot of key players and potentially aren't getting them replaced with decent players from the Rebels.
The backlash against the Tahs seems strongly entrenched in some sort of belief that the Waratahs moving under RA's control has somehow led to the decision to let the Rebels fold.
dru
David Wilson (68)
Waratahs are stuck between a rock and a hard place. At this point.
Possibly further negotiations with the players will see some change in positions, but it isn't going to stop ott press headlines.
Highlander35
Steve Williams (59)
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
You would expect negotiations to improve a bit now that Raiwalui and McKellar have been confirmed, and maybe RA have to cough up a bit of relocation assistance.
Otherwise the remaining few teams don't have a lot of squad space, particularly with the salary cap.
I don't expect anyone who is any chance of playing the Lions next year will sacrifice that opportunity to play club rugby.
Otherwise the remaining few teams don't have a lot of squad space, particularly with the salary cap.
I don't expect anyone who is any chance of playing the Lions next year will sacrifice that opportunity to play club rugby.
Adam84
Rod McCall (65)
As a professional athlete, playing club rugby doesn't really help with offers on future earnings in the next contract either
Wilson
Phil Kearns (64)
Part of the problem seems to be the binary nature of the conversation, at least from the outside - the tahs want these players (and RA ostensibly wants them to go there), while they've all apparently listed Brisbane as their preferred destination and have no interest in the tahs. There are a few reasons for that but the main part seems to be a core of them who consider Brisbane home (Salakaia-Loto, Tupou, Feliuai, Dobbins, Ripley and potentially Gibbon) alongside Daugunu and Canham having made that move already and Leota and Kailea seeing it as the closest thing to it after Melbourne. That, combined with a desire to stay together as a group means there's very little inroads to be made in getting the majority of them to what has become a pretty unattractive destination.
The way forward seems to be looking at getting a few more of these guys insterested in the Brumbies and Force to break that group up a bit and spread the playing talent and opportunites around. Some of that appears to ahve been hapening with rumours of Feliaui to the Brumbies, though I wonder if the recent centralisation process has meant nothing could be finalised there for a little while. There's a lot more room to negotiate if these players are getting a legitimate choice to make (even if it doesn't include their prefered option), as opposed to being told it's Sydney or club rugby (which is probably just a holding ground for an over seas offer). If a few of them make the move west or to Canberra, the dream of staying them together in one place dies and individual considerations come much more to the fore.
I know there's a sense of urgency about the tahs after they've lost a huge chunk of their roster, but at somepoint it's they're going to have to accept that it's not a quick fix and the rebuild will take time. It's better for Australian rugby (and arguably the tahs) getting a couple of these guys signed to the tahs and getting that started, instead of trying to grab all of them and hoping they can do it overnight, while risking getting any of them all and losing more of them to the game as a whole.
The way forward seems to be looking at getting a few more of these guys insterested in the Brumbies and Force to break that group up a bit and spread the playing talent and opportunites around. Some of that appears to ahve been hapening with rumours of Feliaui to the Brumbies, though I wonder if the recent centralisation process has meant nothing could be finalised there for a little while. There's a lot more room to negotiate if these players are getting a legitimate choice to make (even if it doesn't include their prefered option), as opposed to being told it's Sydney or club rugby (which is probably just a holding ground for an over seas offer). If a few of them make the move west or to Canberra, the dream of staying them together in one place dies and individual considerations come much more to the fore.
I know there's a sense of urgency about the tahs after they've lost a huge chunk of their roster, but at somepoint it's they're going to have to accept that it's not a quick fix and the rebuild will take time. It's better for Australian rugby (and arguably the tahs) getting a couple of these guys signed to the tahs and getting that started, instead of trying to grab all of them and hoping they can do it overnight, while risking getting any of them all and losing more of them to the game as a whole.
Rebel man
John Thornett (49)
Well RA definitely has a conflict of interest. The own the worst team in Aus and want to make them competitive ASAP.
I don’t believe for one second that the Rebels were knifed to benefit the Tahs. Yet when they came to the decision to wind them down they definitely looked at how to get the best outcome for the Tahs
Rebel man
John Thornett (49)
For the fringe pro players no, but for the capped wallabies it won’t hurt their value
Jimmyjam
Watty Friend (18)
If it's in fact true that the players cite the tahs as a pretty unattractive destination then they are unfortunately a bunch of massive hypocrites. Melbourne has been a basket case in rugby terms since inception. They went there (excluding the Melbourne local players of course) for the overs paid in cash... (as we now know the rebels were living beyond their means for years). The Tahs have been a far superior performer in every metric except for the last 2-3yrs which were a direct result of the Gibson coaching debacle when they lost 10 wallabies that were replaced by club players after 2019 RWC. Also a direct result of the Tahs trying to live within their means....
Slim 293
Stirling Mortlock (74)
Once their current deals with RA expire next year, it certainly will...